What would comic book lovers do without a steady stream of upcoming Marvel movies? Sure, some people can be very critical of superhero films, but that doesn’t stop fans from coming out in droves to see their favorites battle alien and/or supernatural forces and eventually vanquish evil. Evil like one-time God of Mischief/current Marvel multiverse guardian, Loki, as played by Tom Hiddleston. The beloved actor has now revealed what he referenced when he began portraying the popular character, and though surprising, it does make complete sense.
What Did Tom Hiddleston Borrow From When First Playing Loki?
Along with leading his own titular series as Loki (which you can catch with your Disney+ subscription), Tom Hiddleston has also appeared in several of Marvel’s films as Thor’s formerly despicable adopted brother. His role as the new multiversal timekeeper will continue in the 2026 movies entry, Avengers: Doomsday (which Hiddleston finds “a relief” to be able to talk about at this early stage), but just how did he manage to nail the tone needed for such a “larger-than-life” character when first stepping into the gold-horned god’s boots?
Recently, the Life of Chuck actor spoke with GQ, and when talking about his influences after first landing the role of Loki, told the outlet:
[I was] borrowing references [I] knew from Shakespeare.
WOW. What? Wait…let’s just have Hiddleston break this down for us. He explained:
Shakespeare wrote really larger-than-life, complex characters and part of the privilege of getting to play those parts is that you get to inhabit that complexity. What I found with the Marvel stories and characters is that they have this capacity to cross culture and language and age. They are wildly different but the heroes are who we want to be; the villains are who we are afraid we are.
Honestly, considering that Kenneth Branagh, who’s long taken Shakespeare tales to new heights both in the theater and on screen, directed Thor and wisely chose Hiddleston to portray Loki, this thought process isn’t so odd on the actor’s part. On top of that, once you really think about the kind of characters we see in the MCU (and upcoming superhero movies overall) and those from the Bard…well, it totally fits to take inspiration from those stories.
The inherent bigness of the situations that each set of characters tends to find themselves in, with life-or-death stakes, is quite similar (just with more aliens and even more magic for Marvel). Also, as the Much Ado About Nothing star (who appeared in the play in London recently when Keanu Reeves attended a performance) noted, those high stakes have tended to lead to multifaceted characters who either show us who we want to be as humans under extreme circumstances, or exemplify the type of people we really hope we don’t become, ever.
If anything, the star using Shakespeare as his reference point to get into his MCU character and the stories he inhabits just proves why he’s so good as Loki.
